Federer, Nadal & the Greatest Match Ever—An Oral History, Part 7 of 12

Few tennis matches have seemed as fated to be classics as the one that was played on Wimbledon’s Centre Court on July 6, 2008. The skies over southwest London were ominous that afternoon, but anticipation had rarely run higher. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were about to face off in another final at the All England Club.

TRAILER: Strokes of Genius, sponsored by Humana

Ted Robinson, Tennis Channel and NBC television commentator: At a certain point, the length of the match, and the uncertainty, got to be mental torture for those of us watching it; I can’t imagine what it was like for the players and their families. John and I were down in the little NBC booth at court level that I called the cockpit. Everything peaked in the fourth-set tiebreak, just like it had for John against Bjorn in 1980, when he won their tiebreak 18–16.

That’s when I had my most vivid memory of this match, and that it was going to be something special: when Roger ran out to his left and whipped a backhand down the line for a winner, without any hesitation, to save match point. That wasn’t a shot you saw him hit in those days. It was as if this great player had been forced or inspired by Rafa to do things even he normally couldn’t do.

And then, just when we reach that peak, there’s [referee] Andrew Jarrett, with his walkie-talkie, looking up at the sky. I’ll never forget when the word came down from Dick Ebersol at NBC that John and I should just talk through the rain delay, and that we wouldn’t cut to anything else—no replays or classic matches. So we lowered the glass in the cockpit window to get a view of the court, and John and I talked until Roger and Rafa came back on. That was something special for me.

A LANDMARK DOCUMENTARY DURING THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS EVENT IN SPORTS, CELEBRATING THE UNPARALLELED FEDERER-NADAL RIVALRY AND 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREATEST MATCH EVER PLAYED.

In association with All England Lawn & Tennis Club, Rock Paper Scissors Entertainment and Amblin Television.  Directed by Andrew Douglas.